Google Earth 4 – Textured 3D models, New SketchUp for Mac and Windows

Yesterday, Google announced fantastic support for 3D models in the new Google Earth V4 (beta). The 3D models for Google Earth will take on much greater realism now thanks to new support of textures. This means you can put color photos, patterns, even paintings onto the surface of polygons for 3D models. Models of buildings, people, landscapes, etc. will take on much greater realism without the necessity of complex 3D data which would otherwise take up a great deal of memory. This unleashes the full power of the free Google SketchUp modeling program.
In addition, Google announced new versions of Google SketchUp for both Windows and the Mac OSX. Mac OSX support is new for SketchUp. Not only is the free version available for the Mac, but also SketchUp Pro 5 is also available for the Mac.
The Google 3D Warehouseis already being populated with 3D models supporting textures. Look for models with textures which are marked as downloadable by Google Earth V4. You can search for “San Francisco” to see a bunch of examples.
The free Google SketchUp provides a simple mechanism for first importing a screenshot of the satellite/aerial photos for the location where you want to place your 3D models. And then, after you place your 3D model where you want it, you can easily export the model back to Google Earth. It’s amazingly simple!

About Frank Taylor

Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.

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